This study compares the ways in which periods of Tory domination come to an end. It tries to assess if there are factors common to the decline and fall of each Conservative administration in British history since the beginnings of the modern party-based political system. Each period is examined by a leading political historian: Norman Gash writes on the Wellington-Liverpool era; Martin Pugh on Salisbury; John Turner on the Macmillan years; Jeremy Black on anti-Napoleonic Torydom; Dennis Kavanagh on the Heath regime; and John Vincent on Disraeli's reign. Each essay examines the nature of government, the basis of victory, the unifying themes, the interests represented, the quality of leadership, the prevailing ideology, and the reasons for decline and decay - manifest disunity, policy confusion, depleted finances, hostile climate, credible opposition, useless leadership and loss of economic competence.